In the early 1970s, he worked with French singers, husband and wife Ringo (real name Guy Bayle) and Sheila (later known as Sheila B. Devotion), as well as releasing some records under his own name in France.[2] On many of these and later records he worked with fellow writer and producer Jean Kluger.

In 1971 Vangarde and Kluger released the cult LP Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki as the Yamasuki Singers, a pseudo-Japanese concept album of pop songs, described on the sleeve of its CD reissue as "a fuzzed-out-educational-multi-cultural psych-rock-opera.... proto-psychedelic hip-hop with overweight drum beats and basslines", which much later became a highly sought-after source of drum and bass breaks. The song "Aieaoa" on the album was later recorded, as "Aie a Mwana", first by Black Blood and then by Bananarama, becoming the first UK hit for the latter group. The song "Yamasuki" was used over the closing credits in the movie Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014). The song "Yama Yama" was featured in the opening of Fargo (TV series) season 2 episode 3 (2015).

Vangarde is Jewish.[3] In recent years Vangarde has led a campaign to ensure that descendants of Jewish artists in France, whose rights were taken from them in the Second World War, receive financial compensation.[4]

In May, 2013, the London magazine Dazed & Confused featured an hour-long mix of funk, disco and electro produced by Vangarde.[5]